ECONOMY CREATES `NEW POOR' IN STATE SUBURBS

The people who serve the hungry and poor in Connecticut are not surprised by new census figures that show a doubling of the state's poverty rate from 1989 to 1990.

These "new poor" have been lining up at state welfare offices and nonprofit food pantries while unemployment benefits are being exhausted and many families have no place else to turn.

The Census Bureau released statistics Thursday showing that the number of residents living below the poverty line in 1990 was 6 percent of the population, compared with 2.9 percent a year earlier.

While the state's poverty level in 1990 was the lowest in the nation, the increase from 2.9 percent to 6 percent was the largest percentage increase in the country.

The official poverty line for an individual living alone is $6,652, rising to $13,359 for a family of four.

"We've seen a new kind of individual coming through our doors. Secretaries, plumbers, electricians, salespeople -- white and blue collar," said Claudette Beaulieu, spokeswoman for the state Department of Income Maintenance.

"These are people who have never come to the welfare system before and have been in the work force. They can't find work," she said.

Beaulieu said self-employed people, especially small-scale contractors, are also applying for welfare benefits.

"These are people who went out on their own in the early 80s or mid-80s and started their own businesses. Now there is not enough work out there for them to continue to run their own business. They end up letting people go, and they themselves are coming to apply," Beaulieu said.

They are applying for food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children or Medicaid for themselves or their families. In June 1989, there were 36,603 families in the state receiving AFDC benefits. A year later there were 42,463, and in June 1991, there were 50,537.

Most of these "new poor" are from Connecticut's suburban towns, particularly those in the northeastern part, said Audrey Rowe, the agency's commissioner.

Rowe said welfare rolls in cities have increased during the recession, but the rate of growth has been far higher in outlying towns, such as Killingly, where the agency hopes to open a satellite office soon.

In many of these towns, the number of two-parent families in need of assistance has increased dramatically. The agency's program for unemployed parents, a welfare program available to two-parent families who no longer have a wage earner, has served more than 1,700 families this year -- a 132 percent increase over last year, when 731 families were served.

Nonprofit agencies that run food pantries have also seen steep increases in people who need help, said Laura Cohen, director of the hunger division of the Connecticut Association for Human Services.

"These are people who never needed to use the emergency food system before. These places opened up only with the capacity of serving in emergency situations. Now there are so many more people who need help on a regular basis, they can't meet the demand," she said.

She said many pantries in the state are being forced to create strict guidelines because of the intense demand. Often, they limit food to one bag of groceries a month or provide groceries only to people who live in the neighborhoods where they are located.

"Despite heroic efforts by the private sector, they simply cannot provide for thousands of people a month who need enough food for an adequate diet," she said.

"The largest federal food program, the Food Stamp program, is supposed to lend a helping hand, but it is really lending only three or four fingers. Government eligibility restrictions are way too harsh, and if you do qualify, they don't give you enough food to last through the month." "In New England, we are in a crisis and we need our government to respond," she said.